This timeline of spaceflight may require cleanup to ensure consistency with other timeline of spaceflight articles. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Spaceflight/Timeline of spaceflight working group for guidelines on how to improve the article. Details Concerns have been raised that:
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Orbital launches | |
---|---|
First | 6 January |
Last | 28 December |
Total | 128 |
Catalogued | 124 |
National firsts | |
Space traveller | Czechoslovakia Poland East Germany DDR |
Rockets | |
Retirements | Atlas-Agena Mu-3H |
Crewed flights | |
Orbital | 5 |
Total travellers | 10 |
1978 saw the launch of the Pioneer Venus missions launched by the United States, on 20 May and 8 August. The Pioneer Venus Multiprobe landed four spacecraft on the planet, one of which transmitted data for 67 minutes before being destroyed by atmospheric pressure. ISEE-C, which was launched on 8 December, flew past comet 21P/Giacobini–Zinner in 1985, and Halley's Comet in 1986. [1]
Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Payload (⚀ = CubeSat) | Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | |||
Remarks | ||||||||
January | ||||||||
10 January 12:26:00 | Soyuz-U | Baikonur Site 1/5 | ||||||
Soyuz 27 | Low Earth (Salyut 6) | Salyut 6 EP-1 | 16 March 11:18 | Successful | ||||
Crewed flight with two cosmonauts | ||||||||
20 January 08:25 | Soyuz-U | Baikonur Site 31/6 | ||||||
Progress 1 | Low Earth (Salyut 6) | Salyut 6 logistics | 8 February 02:00 | Successful | ||||
Maiden flight of Progress spacecraft. First in-orbit refuel, from Progress to Salyut 6, 2nd Feb. | ||||||||
26 January 04:58 | Long March 2A | Jiuquan, LA-2/138 | ||||||
FSW-0 3 | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 30 January | Successful | ||||
Re-entry capsule recovered on 30 January. | ||||||||
February | ||||||||
4 February 07:00 | M-3H | Kagoshima Space Center LP-M | ISAS | |||||
EXOS-A (Kyokko) | ISAS | Highly elliptical orbit | Magnetosphere research | In orbit | Successful | |||
March | ||||||||
2 March 15:28:10 | Soyuz-U | Baikonur Site 1/5 | ||||||
Soyuz 28 | Low Earth (Salyut 6) | Salyut 6 EP-2 | 10 March 11:24 | Successful | ||||
Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, first Czechoslovakian in space | ||||||||
May | ||||||||
20 May 13:13:00 | Atlas SLV-3D Centaur | Cape Canaveral LC-36A | ||||||
Pioneer Venus Orbiter | NASA/ARC | Cytherocentric | Venus orbiter | 22 October 1992 | Successful | |||
Entered 181.6 x 66,360-km orbit around Venus on 4 December 1978. | ||||||||
June | ||||||||
15 June 20:16:45 | Soyuz-U | Baikonur Site 1/5 | ||||||
Soyuz 29 | Low Earth (Salyut 6) | Salyut 6 EO-2 | 31 September 11:40 | Successful | ||||
Crewed flight with two cosmonauts | ||||||||
16 June 10:49 | Delta 2914 | Cape Canaveral LC-17B | ||||||
GOES 3 | NOAA | Geostationary | Weather | In orbit | Successful | |||
Decommissioned on 29 June 2016. | ||||||||
27 June 15:27:21 | Soyuz-U | Baikonur Site 1/5 | ||||||
Soyuz 30 | Low Earth (Salyut 6) | Salyut 6 EP-3 | 5 July 13:30 | Successful | ||||
Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, first Pole in space | ||||||||
August | ||||||||
8 August 07:33 | Atlas SLV-3D Centaur | Cape Canaveral LC-36A | ||||||
Pioneer Venus Multiprobe Bus | NASA/ARC | Heliocentric | Venus atmospheric probe | 9 December 1978 20:22:55 | Successful | |||
Pioneer Venus Large Probe | NASA/ARC | Heliocentric | Venus atmospheric probe | 9 December 1978 19:39:53 | Successful | |||
Pioneer Venus North Probe | NASA/ARC | Heliocentric | Venus atmospheric probe | 9 December 1978 19:42:40 | Successful | |||
Pioneer Venus Night Probe | NASA/ARC | Heliocentric | Venus atmospheric probe | 9 December 1978 19:52:07 | Successful | |||
Pioneer Venus Day Probe | NASA/ARC | Heliocentric | Venus atmospheric probe | 9 December 1978 20:55:34 | Successful | |||
Day Probe survived landing, sent data for an additional 67 minutes afterward. First American probe to send data from the surface of Venus. | ||||||||
12 August 14:12:00 | Delta 2914 | Cape Canaveral LC-17B | ||||||
International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3)/International Cometary Explorer (ICE) | NASA/ESRO | Sun/Earth L1 to Heliocentric | Probing interaction of Earth's magnetic field with solar wind, later cometary research | In orbit | Successful | |||
First probe stationed at Sun/Earth L1 Lagrangian point. Later entered heliocentric orbit, encountering Comet Giacobini–Zinner on 11 September 1985. It would also study Halley's Comet from a distance in 1986. | ||||||||
26 August 14:51:30 | Soyuz-U | Baikonur Site 1/5 | ||||||
Soyuz 31 | Low Earth (Salyut 6) | Salyut 6 EP-4 | 2 November 11:04 | Successful | ||||
Crewed flight with two cosmonauts, first East German in space | ||||||||
September | ||||||||
16 September 05:00 | M-3H | Kagoshima Space Center LP-M | ISAS | |||||
EXOS-B (Jikiken) | ISAS | Highly elliptical orbit | Magnetosphere research | 23 April 2018 | Successful | |||
October | ||||||||
3 October 23:09:30 | Soyuz-U | Baikonur Site 31/6 | ||||||
Progress 4 | Low Earth (Salyut 6) | Salyut 6 logistics | 26 October 16:28 | Successful |
Date (GMT) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|
4 December | Pioneer Venus Orbiter | Cytherocentric orbit insertion | |
9 December | Pioneer Venus Multiprobe | Venerian atmospheric entry | The bus, one large and three small subprobes |
21 December | Venera 12 | Venerian landing | |
25 December | Venera 11 | Venerian landing |
Start Date/Time | Duration | End Time | Spacecraft | Crew | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
29 July 04:00 | 2 hours 20 minutes | 06:20 | Salyut 6 PE-2 | Vladimir Kovalyonok Aleksandr Ivanchenkov | Ivanchenkov retrieved samples and experiments attached to the outside of Salyut. Kovalyonok assisted with the retrievals and used a color television camera to transmit EVA images to the ground controllers. |
The year 1967 in spaceflight saw the most orbital launches of the 20th century and more than any other year until 2021, including that of the first Australian satellite, WRESAT, which was launched from the Woomera Test Range atop an American Sparta rocket. The United States National Space Science Data Center catalogued 172 spacecraft placed into orbit by launches which occurred in 1967.
The United States National Space Science Data Center catalogued 157 spacecraft placed into orbit by launches which occurred in 1968. The first crewed Apollo missions occurred in 1968. It was also the year in which Earth lifeforms first left low Earth orbit, during the successful Zond 5 mission to the Moon and the Zond 6 lunar mission which crashed upon return, and the year that humans first left low Earth orbit, during the successful Apollo 8 mission to the Moon.
Japan and China each launched their first satellites in 1970, bringing the total number of nations with independent launch capability to five.
Luna 1 was the first spacecraft to leave the gravitational influence of Earth. Also in 1959, Luna 2 was the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another celestial body, impacting the Moon, and Luna 3 returned the first images of the far side of the Moon.
Explorer 1 was the first American satellite to reach orbit on 31 January 1958.
1973 saw the launch of the first American Space station known as Skylab on a Saturn V rocket.
The following is an outline of 1983 in spaceflight.
The year 1986 saw the destruction of Space Shuttle Challenger shortly after lift-off, killing all seven aboard, the first in-flight deaths of American astronauts. This accident followed the successful flight of Columbia just weeks earlier, and dealt a major setback to the U.S. crewed space program, suspending the Shuttle program for 32 months.
On March 29, 1974 Mariner 10 became the first spacecraft to fly by Mercury, that saw a spacecraft for the first and last time in the 20th century.
The following is an outline of 1989 in spaceflight.
Spaceflight in 1977 included some important events such as the roll out of the Space Shuttle orbiter, Voyager 1 and Voyager space probes were launched. NASA received the Space Shuttle orbiter later named Enterprise, on 14 January. This unpowered sub-orbital space plane was launched off the top of a modified 747 and was flown uncrewed until 13 August until a human crew landed the Enterprise for the first time.
In 1975 several notable events happened in spaceflight such as the launch and arrival at Venus of Venera 9 and 10, the launch to Mars of the Viking orbiter/landers missions, the joint Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, and the launch of satellite Aryabhatta.
The following is an outline of 1976 in spaceflight.
The following is an outline of 1979 in spaceflight.
The following is an outline of 1987 in spaceflight.
The following is an outline of 1988 in spaceflight.